


Always Christmas, Never Winter

by Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw



Series: February Ficlet Challenge 2018 [13]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Christmas, Consensual Infidelity, F/F, Fade to Black, Fluff, Happy Ending, Light Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-13
Updated: 2018-02-13
Packaged: 2019-03-18 06:34:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 708
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13676238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw/pseuds/Turn_of_the_Sonic_Screw
Summary: Bill and Clara meet cute over meatloaf and a shared longing for Christmas.Pairing: Bill Potts/Clara OswaldPrompt: Making your own traditions





	Always Christmas, Never Winter

**Author's Note:**

> Beta by imaginary_golux

Bill's pretty sure there wasn't a diner on Triton the last time she checked. She would have remembered; she and Heather had drifted in orbit for days, just watching the clouds ripple past like the waves of some forbidding sea.

One part of her, the part that spent ten years with a box on her chest in the dungeon of a spaceship, thinks this must be a trap. But another part, the part that was perfectly preserved as the girl who believed so strongly in love at first sight that she'd wandered across the cosmos to find it. Well, that part of her was dying for a plate of meatloaf. Meatloaf, and maybe some fried potatoes. Could her mouth still water if she was made of quicksilver?

"Right," Bill announced to the void. "Get in. Avoid traps. Cadge meatloaf." She took human form and stepped inside. "Hello." Seriously hot waitress was not part of the plan.

"Hello, welcome to Clara's Diner. Coffee?" She must own the place, Bill reckoned, spotting her nametag.

"Yeah! Uh." Bill patted her pockets. "I haven't got any money."

"No charge," Clara told her. "Something to eat?"

"Meatloaf, if you've got it."

"We've got everything." Clara's eyes twinkled, and Bill suspected she was telling the truth. Bill sipped her coffee and Clara came out a few minutes later, two plates in hand. "Mind if I join you?"

"Nah. Not like there's much in the way of company." Bill cracked a disarming smile before tucking in.

"You far from home?"

Bill shook her head. "You wouldn't believe me if I told you."

Clara folded her hands over her plate and rested her chin atop them to fix Bill with dark brown eyes. "Try me."

"I'm an immortal time-traveling shape shifting puddle." Bill blurted out.

"No kidding? Go on." 

"I fly around the galaxy with my girlfriend."

"Where's she, then? Foolish of her to let a catch like you slip away."

“We stay in touch. We, uh, don’t do the whole monogamy thing.” Bill shrugged. “Being immortal and all, it seems a bit old fashioned.” Bill sighed. “I kind of miss old-fashioned, sometimes.”

“I know the feeling. I’m, ah, in much the same situation.” Clara’s hands lay idly in the middle of the table, and Bill instinctively covered them with her free hand.

“You’re having me on, aren’t you?”

“Far from it; in fact, I think our experiences might be closer than you imagine.” Clara’s lips formed a chimerical twist.

“Sure, whatever.” Bill sat back in her booth, her meatloaf done. She had forgotten how nice it was to sit and talk. “I miss Christmas.”

“Who’s to say it isn’t?” Bill quirked an eyebrow at her. “Time machine.” Clara snapped her fingers, and the jukebox began playing Frosty the Snowman. “It can be Christmas if I want it to be. So. Gingerbread? Eggnog?”

“Yeah, sure,” Bill laughed, because if she was going to be duped, she may as well enjoy it. 

“Cheers,” Clara said, fetching two glasses of eggnog. 

“Cheers,” Bill replied. “I’m afraid I didn’t get you anything this year.”

“Didn’t you?” Clara asked merrily, her eyes drifting up.

“Oh, you are good,” Bill whispered approvingly before leaning forward into the kiss. It’s cool and spicy from the eggnog, and Bill let her lips part for Clara to deepen the kiss. She’s no mean kisser, but Clara must have a century of experience on her. 

“Wow,” Bill gasped, the kiss broken. “Some Christmas present.”

“Tell me about it.” Clara giggled. “This is..nice. I haven’t done Christmas in a while. I think Ashildr’s forgotten that it exists. Either that, or she doesn’t believe in it.”

“That’s a tragedy,” Bill offered sympathetically. “I’ll have to stop by sometime.” She flashed a nervous smile. “And, uh, we could do this again?”

“I’d like that.” Clara smirked. “And that way I’d know when it was Christmas.”

“What, you mean, every time I stop in, it’s Christmas Day?”

“Yeah, why not?” Clara’s eyes flicked to the door at the back of the diner. “Unless you want to stay for Boxing Day?”

“That, uh, sounds good. Only I might be a little out of practice.” 

“You’ll have to come back soon, then,” Clara breathed, pulling her close for another kiss.

**Author's Note:**

> Come on, you know these two hooked up.
> 
> Also, I think Ashildr forgetting that Christmas exists may be the most Ashildr thing I've ever written, so there's that.


End file.
